The Lotus Of East Palace
Chapter 23 (Shuu)

"Kaze has already met Yeon-Hwa at the Jade Palace. They are safe and unharmed. But the Queen Mother plans to marry Yeon-Hwa to Haru and make her the Empress." I give a brief report to my King. Since Yeon-Hwa disappeared and Kaze went with Eri to Shina, I never saw her again. Kaze caught.

The capture of Kaze by Torakka was no surprise to us at all. We had expected that sometime between me and Kaze would be caught by Torakka, because we were no longer protected by the power of our Queen, Torakka could trace our tracks. That was our initial plan. That is why the King and Queen deliberately appeared before Torakka at that time and let them live. To lure them. It was a bit risky and dangerous, the Queen even had time to disagree on this plan, but Kaze and I managed to convince her that we could do it. And we've laid out a plan for what to do if one of us gets caught.

Whatever happens, we must not expose the Queen's whereabouts.

That is why Kaze lied to the Queen Mother that Yeon-Hwa is our Queen. He was very shrewd in terms of making impromptu scenarios.

But on the other hand, my king seemed unsettled. He had been pacing back and forth in his study, in one of the rooms underground. I was so amazed when I first entered this room because it was very similar to the room in the Main Palace in Nordhalbinsel. The witches did their job perfectly.

"When?" Ask. "When was the wedding held?"

"Perhaps after the selection of the Concubine is completed. Less than a month."

He paused and began to tap on the table, looking like he was counting something. I can't read his mind, so I don't know what he's counting. "That means we only have three weeks to save Commander Wu and Tania Welsh. No. gabe. Maybe it should be two weeks. We should be able to foil the Empress Dowager's plans and take Yeon-Hwa and Kaze away from the Palace. Until then, Yeon-Hwa will remain safe there."

"What if they demand it to prove that she is the Queen of Dragons?"

"Then we'll help him. Give a little show in front of the Orient folk. Make them believe that Yeon-Hwa is indeed the reincarnation of Zhera."

I nodded in understanding, "Do we need to tell Elias about this plan?"

"He would not agree. He will probably act recklessly by taking Yeon-Hwa away from the Palace as soon as he hears about it. For now, don't tell Elias. I'll tell him later if the time is right."

"Okay, Sire."

I looked at my King, he still looked pale. I see, northern people generally have pale skin because they are rarely exposed to the sun, but pale skin is more like a sick person. Could it be because the Queen's condition has not improved so she lacks rest? "How is the Queen?" Many finally. I don't think she'd answer honestly if I asked her about her condition, so I asked her about the Queen's condition.

Her expression changed from worried to desperate in an instant, "Anna still can't eat anything. I can't bear to see it that way. I want to take her back to Schiereiland, keep her away from the conflict that's here, but at the palace now there's Selena, she's not safe there. If I take him to Nordhalbinsel, it's also not a good choice because we can't be sure Haru really won't attack our kingdom. Moreover, because Yi's death was indeed caused by Elle. If they knew the truth, they would actually launch an attack on Nordhalbinsel."

"What about Westeria?" I propose. "I heard there the guard is very strict and the country is spared from conflict with any country."

"I've asked Queen Eugene. He was willing to keep Anna there until the situation was safe enough. Eugene had even vacated one of his stalls to be occupied by Anna. But Anna must have refused to go to Westeria. I will try to persuade him later after his condition improves a little bit. For now it would be difficult to bring her teleporting."

I don't not not know. I can really estimate how bad the Queen is right now. Things like this have been experienced when pregnant Nordlijk first. The difference is, this time he forbids anyone to see him because he is afraid we are worried about him if we see his condition.

"Then the only way is with the potion."

He looked pondering, "There's actually one more way. I know someone in Montreux who might be able to help. So you don't have to go to your house if it's too dangerous."

"Absolutely harmless, Sire."

"You sure you'll be okay if you go alone?" Ask Raja.

"I'll be safe there, Your Majesty. Please don't worry. I will go to my own house, see my own family. They won't hurt me or hand me over to the Emperor."

"All right, I believe you. Please take care of yourself."

...****************...

I went to Xiang, where my house is. In order not to cause a stir, I fused with the Yaozhi river and entered through the canals that were under the Huang Clan Palace, my residence. I materialized again after passing the guards at the front gate.

It's late, but it's not too late so I'm sure my mom and dad are still not asleep. Usually, at this hour they are in the prayer room. The palace is still the same. It has not been renovated or altered in the past decades since the first Water Dragon of the Huang Clan was born. Every step of the way to the prayer room, I recognized myself. Not only in the present, but in the past. I again remembered myself as Huang Hui Jun, as my grandfather, the Water Dragon in his previous life.

I remember marrying a Jungian girl. I remember loving someone so much that it felt like my chest was tight when I saw him shed tears. It felt like my world collapsed when I saw him lying weak and then not breathing. I died shortly after his death, unable to bear his deep sorrow.

Mei Lin was only a year younger than me. As a child, he was a bright and mischievous child. At first I didn't know where his father was because he had never seen him, but his mother used to be a servant in the Huang Clan Palace. He was often scolded by his mother for frequently entering the sacred territory carelessly. One day, while I was alone in a quiet, dark prayer room after everyone had fallen asleep, I met him. It was the first time I had met Mei Lin even though I had often heard about the daughter of one of the servants who was doing a lot of work.

At first I imagined the skinny, dry daughter as malnourished because she came from a poor family. But it turns out she has a round face with both cheeks similar to a bakpao. As he smiled, his eyes almost closed completely forming a curved line. I remember him asking me why I cried all night alone in the prayer room. I don't really remember why I cried, but as I remember, Mei Lin accompanied me until I stopped crying. And so, he always met me in the prayer room at night. We didn't really talk, he was just there accompanying me. He became my friend by remaining silent in the dark. I wasn't sure what the reason was for accompanying me there, but it turned out that her existence was treating my grief.

I just found out how precious the presence of a friend in a sad moment when Mei Lin suddenly disappeared. I never saw him again. My parents told me that her mother stopped working. And since then I've tried not to think about it. I thought everyone would definitely come and go, Mei Lin was no exception.

Many years passed and I began to accept requests from the Emperor to enter the Water Palace because I was twenty years old. They sent a Torakka to deliver a message to me. Torakka was a young, slender and milky-white girl as well as a pair of beautiful red eyes and long black hair that looked shiny in the sun, in short, she's the prettiest girl I've ever seen. But those red eyes seemed to catch my attention somehow. The red eyes are dragon eyes, eyes that can track the whereabouts of dragons. If one day I run away, this girl will track me down and find me and drag me back to the Emperor.

The girl was quiet and cold. He just came, bowed respectfully to me, then handed me a letter from the Emperor. He didn't say anything. I threw the letter in his face and said that I did not want to go to the Water Palace. I threw him away and told him never to come back to me. The girl was silent even though I treated her that badly. But then he ordered his troops to wait outside and asked me to talk to him for one eye.

"Looky boy, long time no see." He spoke in a very rude manner. I was angry to hear it too. I'm the Water Dragon. I've never been demeaned like that. Everyone must respect me, not least the Emperor himself.

"Who do you call a whiny boy?"

She smiled cynically, "Did you still go to the prayer room to cry all night, Hui Jun?"

Just then, as I tried to read his thoughts, I finally realized that Torakka who came to me on the Emperor's orders was Mei Lin. The figure of the chubby and jolly little girl had now turned into a slender and quiet teenage girl, but her brash attitude was still the same. When we were kids, we always met in a dark prayer room at night, so I didn't really know the color of her eyes. I just realized how red his eyes were. So horrible and fascinating at the same time.

We finally chatted until the sun went down. I asked her what had happened to her all this time and why her mother had suddenly stopped working for my family.

Mei Lin also unhesitatingly told everything as if we had indeed become close friends to tell each other dark secrets. Or maybe it's because he knows I can read minds, so it's useless to hide secrets from me.

Mei Lin's father and mother divorced at the time. In fact, from the beginning they fought often. His father was fired for stealing his employer's money and the news was spread by his employer, since wherever his father tried to apply for a job, he was always rejected because he had been branded as a thief. Inevitably, it was Mother Mei Lin who worked to support their small family. But Mei Lin's frustrated and helpless father finally began to get drunk and gamble. She spent the entire savings Mother Mei Lin saved for the school fees Mei Lin later on. They fought almost every day and Mei Lin heard everything. The voice of his parents' quarrel cry is the song Nina Bobo who accompanies his sleep.

"You're still a whiny. Stop crying, you little boy. If anyone sees, people can misunderstand. A Torakka who was sent by the Emperor to beg the Water Dragon to enter the Water Palace made him cry. I can be beheaded later." He said still giggling.

But at that moment my heart really hurt. I imagined a jolly little girl who had been a witness to her parents' quarrels for years. Then watched his parents divorce. I dare not ask how he had been living after the divorce of his parents and how he became Torakka. Just imagining it must be very difficult. Meanwhile I lived a good life in the Palace, with a harmonious family, but I was the one who cried all night in the prayer room for being born a Water Dragon and was destined to leave my family to serve the Emperor. I don't deserve to cry. At that time in the prayer room, he should have been the one crying.

For days after, Mei Lin did not stop visiting me and continued to hand over letters from the Emperor. He didn't give up even though I tore the letter, burned it and dissolved it in water. No matter what I did to the letter, Mei Lin still came the next day, bowed to me, handed me the letter, then accompanied me to chat until sunset. Actually, the reason I tore the warrants from that Emperor was because I wanted Mei Lin to continue visiting me.

"You... are married?" Ask me one day. I have to admit that I asked her because I was interested in her. And I was worried that I had harbored feelings for a married woman so I asked her.

Mei Lin looked surprised at the question. "I'm not married." The answer then flatly.

"Not married, you mean?"

"No. Not yet. I'm not married. That means I won't get married."

"I don't understand."

"You don't have to understand." His tone was a bit harsh when he said that, but he still tried to be polite to me.

"But why? Why aren't you getting married? Did no one propose to you? There's no one you like?"

"Believe it or not, there are a lot of men waiting in line to propose to me, especially since I'm a Torakka. Young Warlords, the youngest son of Minister Yu, the rich merchant in Jungdo, I reject them all."

"Why? They're not your type?"

Mei Lin laughed. "If you can be honest, Minister Yu's youngest son is very handsome and smart."

"Why did you reject him?"

He shrugged, "Because I'm not getting married."

"You're nineteen! In this country, where is there an unmarried nineteen year old girl? My sisters were all married before they were eighteen."

"It doesn't mean I have to follow your brothers' example, does it? I just..." Mei Lin sighed for a moment. He looked at me as if I was not in the room, as if he were somewhere else. Then I watched her eyes glaze over. He lowered his voice to a mere whisper. "I'm scared. I'm afraid of marriage."

I quietly listened. Slowly I began to understand. But I want him to tell me everything. I want to listen to everything. Everything he's been snooping about all this time. All his secrets that weren't even revealed even though I was trying to read his mind. All the tears that he did not let be seen by anyone. I don't know why I want to hear everything.

"I didn't think it would affect me at first. At first I thought I got through it all safely. You know, most kids whose parents divorce, they stray. Whether being a bad boy, running away from home, taking illegal drugs, getting caught up in socializing is not good, but I'm not. As they quarreled, I opened the books I borrowed from the city library, then I read the books. When I heard my mother's cry, I tried to immerse myself in the most difficult math problems so that I wouldn't have to interfere in their quarrel. People say I grow up early. I don't cry over my parents' divorce, I keep trying to be a good kid for both of them and try to make them proud by getting a scholarship to school and graduating with perfect grades. All my school friends were married. But you know what I had in mind when I saw their happy smiles on the wedding day? I'm concerned about them. I assume that smile won't last long." Her voice choked. His eyes began to turn red as he held back tears. He looked at me, and tears flowed from his eyes. His voice trembled as he was about to say his next words. "I think I survived. Apparently not. I have long since fallen. I had fallen too far and no one knew so no one reached out to help. I just realized it now, Hui Jun. L'm... I subconsciously destroyed myself by harboring everything and pretending that I was okay. Now hearing the word marriage alone scares me and sickens me. So please don't talk about this anymore."

Mei Lin cried. Therehewas. Those are the tears I've been looking for. The tears she had been hiding. Those tears were the honesty of his fake smile and his forced laughter.

I am the Water Dragon. Water Dragons can heal with their water. But I don't know how to heal the wounds of a human heart that's been rotting for years. So I hugged her. I don't know why, but I can't stand to see her tears. My heart hurts so much and I don't really know how to cure it.

"Married to me." I said later. And the words stopped his crying. He blinked, a confused expression painted on his face. "Married to me, then I will be willing to stay in the Water Palace. You don't have to love me, you don't have to do anything for me. That way you'll never feel hurt. And if after that you still think marriage is a terrible thing, you can divorce me. And as compensation for your wasted time in marrying me, you may ask for anything in return."

Mei Lin was silent for a long time. Her tears had stopped flowing, but her eyes were still red. He then laughed. He laughed so hard that I was sure everyone in the Huang Clan Palace could hear him.

"The Water Dragon is crazy, apparently." He said in his laughter.

"If you're not willing, I won't go to the Water Palace."

We finally got married. And I ended up occupying the Water Palace with my wife. He continued to work as Torakka and traveled around the Orient in search of the still-undiscovered Wind Dragon. Meanwhile I accompanied him on every trip except when the Emperor needed me to do my duty as a Water Dragon. We were married friends, so it didn't feel awkward at all. I was secretly trying to heal her heart that was hurt by the trauma of her parents' marriage. It's easy to love her, but it's hard to make her believe in love. It took me more than ten years until he finally accepted my love and loved me completely. Although her heartache will never fully heal, my love for her became a bandage that would always bandage the wounds in her heart. Loving Mei Lin was a long journey full of struggles that I happily embarked on.

Mei Lin was very strong. He trained as Torakka. He almost never got sick. But one day he fell ill. I was so panicked that my water couldn't cure him. I thought I was gonna lose him. But the healer said that my wife was pregnant, and that was how the Water Dragon's wife generally was when she was pregnant. The healer was so old that he had handled the same conditions on the Water Dragon's wife before. She then gave the recipe of the potion that had to be made to strengthen Mei Lin in order to survive her pregnancy well.

We were blessed with three sons and two daughters. All were born safe and healthy. Mei Lin managed to get through everything well thanks to the potion. But in her old age, Mei Lin started getting sick often. It was as if all the illnesses he had not felt in his youth, appeared at that moment. Mei Lin died shortly after due to her illness, and I followed shortly after her death.

...****************...

"Are you married, Shuu? Why weren't we told?" Asked my father when I said that my arrival to this Palace was only for a short while and only to ask for the potion. My mother, beside him, looked worried. This is why I rarely see them, I don't want to see their faces worrying about me.

"Not for me." I said. "The Great Fire Dragon Wife is currently pregnant. So I was sent by him to get the potion."

My mom and dad were surprised when they heard that. Our family, the Huang Clan, greatly glorifies the Dragons. They believe that if the four dragons and their Queen come back to life at the same time, then the empire will be destroyed, then rebuilt and led by our King and Queen. I don't know who predicted it, but I think it could happen. Right now our King and Queen are in the Orient to destabilize the Orient from within so as not to attack Nordhalbinsel. It is not impossible that one day war will finally break out and Orient is destroyed to be controlled by our King and Queen. I will support them when that happens.

But before all that, I have to make sure my Queen gets the potion. So later I think about a war that is not necessarily going to happen or not.

"May we meet the Queen to pray for her directly?" Ask my father later.

I'm shaking. "The queen doesn't want to be met by anyone. Pray for him from here."

Father and Mother seemed to exchange glances, as if they could communicate telepathically like me and Kaze. Mother then nodded. Dad turned back to me, his gaze stiff and serious.

"Shuu, can I have a four-eye talk with you? As a son and father, not as a Water Dragon and his ashes." Ask.

"Of course, Dad."

...****************...